Category skateboarding

In the film Dogtown and Zboys there are references made pointing to the Venice crew essentially giving birth to action sports. They deserve massive kudos for introducing vertical lines in pools (building on what Herbie Fletcher had done prior) and a myriad of airs, grinds and slides that became the building blocks for modern skateboarding. But the skaters themselves, repeatedly, pointed to another person as their inspiration.

Larry Bertleman.

It’s hard to overestimate the impact Larry had on surfing, skating and eventually all of what is today labeled “action sports.”

Today, more than 40 years after the clip below was shot, Dane Reynolds feels like a parallel to Larry. Dan’e newest clip has the surf world buzzing, that video is here. From my seat I can’t help watching that jaw-dropping video without thinking of Larry Bertleman. I suppose we all build on what came prior.

The essence of style, innovation in real time, zigging while the world zags… Larry Bertleman in 1970.

When I see a little trailer like this one I’m reminded of how deeply the arts have become a part of skateboarding culture. Perhaps I shouldn’t limit that to just skating… maybe it’s action sports in general.

It took an odd twist in the mid 70s when the Zephyr team ripped the lid off the sport, threw conventional approach out the window and went vertical. This shift pushed skating further outside the mainstream.

It’s one thing to drift down a sidewalk and another entirely to break into a yard and skate an empty pool.

However in more recent years mainstream brands like Nike have entered the world of skateboarding with force. Longboard skateboards have become transportation options, portable alternatives to bikes, for people that will never even dream of grinding pool coping or ollieing a gap.

As I’ve mentioned in other posts, what skating is today seems to have more in common with ice-skating than surfing. It’s evolved into a highly-technical sport in which skill levels are stratified by spin, flip and twist tricks. But… skateboarding isn’t ice-skating because skateboarding is still considered cool and lives a bit outside the mainstream.

I’m intrigued by that. It’s hard for me to think of other sports that commercially trade in mainstream circles but have a center of gravity that remains slightly outside the mainstream?

When I was a kid my older brother broke his back. My parents moved to the west coast to care for him and left us kids alone.

I bought a skateboard.

My brother’s broken back changed his life, he decided he wanted to spend his life as a painter. That milestone also changed my life. Skateboarding taught me the simple yet massive value in the DIY approach. Skating led to punk rock which led to software which led to surfing which led the environmental movement.